Thomas Pickering to tell more on Benghazi

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has lifted a subpoena against retired U.S. ambassador Thomas Pickering after the Benghazi investigator agreed to a closed-door transcribed interview with lawmakers about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack at the U.S. post in Libya.

Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen were behind the State Department’s own probe into the attack, in which U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others were killed. Republicans and others have criticized the findings of that report as not laying enough blame on President Barack Obama’s administration — including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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“Ambassador Pickering reached an agreement with the Oversight Committee to voluntarily appear for a transcribed interview and answer all questions posed by Committee investigators. As such, I have lifted his legal obligation to appear [Wednesday] for a deposition,” Issa said in a statement, according to Foreign Policy’s The Cable.

Issa had subpoenaed Pickering, who had resisted such action, with the former ambassador telling The Cable last week that subpoenas were typically used for individuals under investigation for wrong-doing. “Depositions are usually reserved for fact witnesses and people under investigation. We are not fact witnesses to Benghazi and we are not under investigation,” Pickering said.

CNN reported that Issa said he “appreciates” Pickering’s decision to be interviewed.

“I appreciate his decision to cooperate on a voluntary basis with our Committee’s investigation of the Benghazi attack,” Issa said, according to CNN. “Our investigation includes an examination of criticisms career State Department officials have made about the [Accountability Review Board] report being ‘incomplete’ and letting senior officials ‘off the hook.’”